Mapfumo testified that she sought Chizema’s advice after her car and thousands pounds were stolen.

She said she also paid for the mermaids to be housed at Harare’s plush Jameson Hotel, and supplied them with mobile phones and electrical generators to cope with the city’s numerous power cuts, the paper said.

“I asked about the names of the mermaids and I was told they were called Emma, Charmaine, Sharvine, Bella and a fifth one who was said to be an Arab mermaid,” Mapfumo told the court.

“All the time, she (Chizema) told me I could not see the mermaids as only spirit mediums could do so.”